Government Raises Chicken Prices - Livestock Rule Exceeds $100M Threshold

Government Raises Chicken Prices - Livestock Rule Exceeds $100M Threshold

US - USDA Chief Economist Joe Glauber was peppered with questions and frustrated comments from the members of the Senate Agriculture Committee during a hearing yesterday on the state of the US livestock industry.

While many issues, including ethanol, trade and animal welfare were discussed, the livestock marketing rule proposed by USDA’s Grain Inspection Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) took center stage with Dr Glauber declaring that the rule appears to cost more than $100 million – a threshold that should have triggered an economic impact analysis before the massive proposed rule was published in June 2010.

In prepared testimony submitted by USDA, the Department acknowledged the economic analysis now being done at the urging of Congress. USDA said that a team headed by Dr Glauber "is studying the rule and preparing the necessary cost benefit analysis. His analysis will reflect the comments and especially the cost-related comments that were received by the agency. We have no preset timeline for completing this rulemaking.

Our focus is on getting the rule done right and making sure that outstanding issues or concerns are addressed properly." In a dramatic and emotional follow-up comment, Senator Roberts said, "I tell you the face of this statute is an ugly statute. That makes me hot. We got enough lawyers down there to explain to me, explain to staff, why GIPSA rules are not consistent with Congressional intent... We are told that we don’t matter."

US Premium Beef CEO Steve Hunt said that the valued based pricing his company uses is necessary to attract cattle for some of their key programs like branded, natural and age verified.


Non-Ambulatory Petition

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) asked FSIS Administrator Almanza about the status of USDA’s response to a Farm Sanctuary petition asking that all non-ambulatory livestock be condemned, noting that many hogs are simply fatigued and there are no food safety gains to be made by not permitting them to rest, recover and be processed.

Mr Almanza said the agency is still reviewing comments, but noted that "concerns with down swine are totally different than concerns with down beef animals."

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